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Britain Imprisoned 1,580 Jewish Holocaust Refugees in Palestine for Five Years in Mauritius
(Times of Israel) Robert Philpot - On Dec. 5, 1940, 1,580 Jewish refugee men, women and children were taken from the Atlit detention center near Haifa and deported to the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. Just a year before, the British government's White Paper had set strict limits on the number of Jewish migrants who would be allowed into Palestine. The refugees - who had fled Nazi-occupied Europe three months prior - were taken to the Beau Bassin central prison where they were held behind bars for nearly five years. In 2014 the Beau Bassin Jewish Detainees Memorial and Information Center opened its doors. The 75th anniversary of the refugees' release was marked in a virtual commemoration event on Aug. 12.